Major Union Is Charged In Payoffs

By JOSEPH B. TREASTER

Published: October 23, 1992

Federal prosecutors charged yesterday that the biggest union for restaurant workers in New York was controlled by organized crime. They said that for years, in exchange for payoffs, the union allowed restaurant owners to pay reduced wages and to avoid paying into health and pension funds for waiters, busboys and other workers.

The charges were filed along with a negotiated settlement, in which the leaders of Local 100 of the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union agreed to sever all ties to the union. At the same time, Judge Robert P. Patterson of Federal District Court in Manhattan ordered a a complete reorganization of the union and a wide-ranging investigation into the corruption charges.

Since the founding of the union in 1983, it "has been infiltrated by corrupt individuals and organized crime figures who have exploited their control over Local 100 for personal gain," the United States Attorney's office in Manhattan charged.

The civil complaint filed against the union said it had "systematically traded union members' rights for illegal payoffs." Vice President Convicted

Local 100 represents an estimated 8,000 employees in more than 500 restaurants, cafeterias and country clubs in New York, Westchester County and Long Island. Most of the thousands of restaurants in New York are not unionized.

The United States Attorney said in the complaint yesterday that John J. DeRoss, the first vice president of the union, had exercised control of the organization for the Colombo organized-crime family.

In the mid-1980's, Mr. DeRoss was convicted of racketeering. Carmine Persico, the leader of the Colombo family, was convicted of similar charges. In filing a civil racketeering suit against Local 100 and its leaders yesterday, Otto G. Obermaier, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, charged that Mr. DeRoss and Mr. Persico had worked with Anthony R. (Chick) Amodeo Sr., the president and business manager of Local 100, in an illegal payoff scheme involving the union. Mr. Obermaier said that through Mr. Amodeo, the Gambino crime family also shared in the looting of Local 100.

The prosecutors did not explain why they had not previously taken further action against the union and its leaders after the indictments in the mid-1980's. And they gave no estimate of the amount of money that was diverted from the restaurant workers and their health and pension funds. Thousands of employees were affected and the losses almost certainly ran into the millions of dollars. Election RiggingXx

Mr. Obermaier charged that the union leaders rigged elections, repeatedly appointed people with criminal records and connections to serve as union executives and threatened violence against union members who tried to file complaints.

In addition, the Federal attorney said, Mr. Amodeo improperly gave union jobs to three of his sons, a daughter and a son-in-law.

The most recent investigation into the union started a little more than a year ago. In December, the parent organization of Local 100, the Hotel and Restaurant Employees International Union, was notified of the investigation. Within three weeks, the international suspended the leaders of the local and appointed a trustee to take charge.

Henry Tamarin, a 47-year-old career union official, was appointed trustee of the union in September. Yesterday Judge Patterson ordered that he continue in that position.

Federal prosecutors have sued for the reorganization of several corrupt unions in recent years, but Mr. Tamarin said this was the first time the authorities had given the task to the union's parent body rather than outsiders. Local 54 of the Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union in Atlantic City had previously been accused of being controlled by organized crime. It is being reorganized by a court appointee from outside the union, Mr. Tamarin said.

While no criminal charges were brought against Mr. Amodeo and other leaders, the agreement reached yesterday provided no protection against charges arising from further investigations.